(editing) friends | dino | lee chan

Chapter Six

Chan

The next day I decided to pick Aera up from school since I wouldn't be seeing her in the next two days to come because of her job. Though the walk home was silent it felt comfortable. Well, at least I did. I never really know how she feels because her expression hardly ever changes.

"Wanna come inside for a bit?" I asked as we get to my gate.

She nods, "sure." She follows me inside without another word.

"You must be tired. What do you wanna drink?" I ask as I lead her through the lounge and into the kitchen.

"I'm okay thanks," she gives me a half smile. She then notices the wall of medals and next to it a see through cabinet of trophies I had won from dancing.

"I hope you're not allergic to coconut," I said as I open the fridge and take out the freshly opened coconut juice mother had bought last night. I poured most of it into a plastic cup and handed it to Aera who was now eyeing the picture of me and my dance class in America which was attached to the fridge with a magnet. "I'll teach you how to dance some time."

"I'm bad at dancing," she says then takes a sip of the drink.

"With a teacher like me, you'll be one of the best," I ruffle her hair then grab her free hand. "Let's go." I take her up to my room.

When we enter she doesn't say much since she was too busy hanging her school bag on the hook beside my door. But when she notices the yellow hand hold above the hook she gasps then takes a step back. She looks the wall up and down in amazement then does a full circle admiring the rest of my walls. "Your room has climbing walls?!" She looks up at the roof to see the colourful hand holds decorated right up to where the tips of the two slanted woods meet.

My room was the attic until I decided to put the hand holds in to make my own bouldering room. "Pretty neat huh?" I smiled proudly. "It's a great arm and back workout." I was wearing a tank top so I decided to flex and show my muscles off a bit.

She laughs a little. "Can I try?" She puts her drink down on my bed side table then starts walking over to closest wall.

"Do you have shorts underneath?" I point at her skirt.

She shy's away a little but nods.

I rub the back of my neck and avoided eye contact when I said, "you should take it off."

She was blushing hard now but she did anyway.

The curve of her butt was actually really nice... Chan! Stop it you pervert! I push the thought out of my head and stand beside her facing the wall."Don't go too far up okay? I'll stand here and spot you."

"Okay." She takes a deep breath then exhales before she grabs onto her first hold. She then stands on a green hold with her right foot then a red one with her left.

I raise my hands up near her armpits ready to catch her if she fell.

She makes her way around the room slowly, with a few slips of the foot here and there but she didn't fall.

"You're doing great Kitty, wow!" I cheered her on. "Have you done this before?"

She shakes her head.

"I'm amazed!" I start to clap but then realised I had to keep spotting her. One of the few things I learnt from the bouldering is that accidents are most likely to happen when the spotter is distracted or is not doing their job properly. I was not about to let Aera break a bone.

When she finally finishes she was a little bit higher off the ground from when she started off. "What do I do now?" She says gripping onto the holds tightly. "My hands are sweaty."

"Fall back, I'll catch you," I say. It was a stupid idea but I was more scared at the fact that if she let go of a hold she would slip weirdly and hurt herself.

"That would be more dangerous if I-"

I grab her waist and yanked her off the wall then swiftly put my arm under her thighs and gripped her tightly. "See that wasn't so bad," I grin. I was now carrying her bridal style.

She looks away a little embarrassed as I put her down gently on the bed.

I then point out the window behind her. "Look if you opened that curtain for once we'll be able to see each other."

She turns around, crosses her legs on my bed and stares out the window. "Was my room Nari unnie's room too?"

"Yeah." I walk around to the other side of the bed and sit crossed legged next to her. "When you get home promise me you'll open the curtain?" I hold up my pinky.

"Why?" She tilts her head.

I frown. "Why not?"

She shrugs.

"Well I wanna write you messages on paper and you can read them through the window." I put my pinky closer to her face. "Promise."

For the first time today she smiles like she means it. "Promise," she links her pinky with mine then seal the deal with our thumbs.

"Has father told you about the class trip yet?" I lay down and put my hands under my head.

She turns around so she was facing me and shakes her head.

"Well your homeroom is going on a two night trip soon and I get to come and help out," I say excitedly.

"Oh... really?" She pouts.

I jolt up causing her to wince. "Yah aren't you happy I'm coming?!"

She blinks twice, a little wide eyed. "It's not that. I just don't like school trips."

"School trips are the best what are you talking about?!" I start shaking her shoulders roughly.

She doesn't stop me and just let her head shake around like a bobble head. "I guess if you're coming then it will be fun."

I stop. That was the first time she had ever said something... sweet? It made me happy knowing she was slowly warming up to me. "I know!" I cup her face, "you can show off your handsome friend to your girly girlfriends."

She shifts a little. "I don't really have any friends..." her voice trails off.

My hands slowly drop from her face suddenly feeling really bad. But I was about to show her that! That would make her feel worse. "What are you talking about? You have me," I pull her hands and drop them onto my shoulder. I then hug her around the waist and semi tackle her onto the bed and cuddled her. I couldn't see her face but she doesn't seem too phased about my sudden movement. To my surprise she actually starts stroking my hair lightly. It felt nice.

"Thank you," she says softly. "For being my friend."

"Hey, you don't have to-"

"I know. But, I just wanted to let you know that I'm grateful I met you." She stops stroking my hair and places her palm on my back.

Only then did I realise that Aera must've lost someone important to her too. She was as lonely was I was.